Note:
The name Nekudim derives from the verse in Genesis 31:10: "I saw in a dream,
and behold, the rams which leaped upon the flock were streaked, speckled and
grizzled". "Streaked" (עקודיםakudim) alludes to the World of Akudim, the lights of the Mouth of
Adam Kadmon, which were contained in a single vessel, as discussed in the
preceding Openings. "Speckled" (נקודיםnekudim) alludes to the World of Nekudim, so-called because it is the
"world" in which the vowel points (nekudim) emerged as "broken", separate
and unconnected vessels, prior to the Tikkun ("repair" or "rectification").
Nekudim is the plural form of the Hebrew word nikud (cf. nekudah),
which means a "dot" or "point" (as in Tosefta Shabbat 12:8). The word
nekudim is also found with the connotation of "crumbled pieces" (in Joshua
9:12 and Terumah 5:1).

The World
of Nekudim was when Atzilut with all its branches were successively being
made, like the way in which a craftsman makes a vessel out of a piece of wood:
at first it is a shapeless mass, but afterwards, when its form is completed,
its beauty is then visible in its complete form.

Now starts
the World of the Nekudim -- the World of Chaos (תוהו,
Tohu). This
is the first thing that must be explained after the preceeding discussion
because this is the light that emerged after the lights we have discussed
above.

The
proposition consists of two parts. Part 1: The World of Nekudim was when...
This provides the definition of the World of Nekudim. Part 2: ...like the
way in which a craftsman... This provides us with a metaphorical way of
understanding this world.

Part 1:
The World of Nekudim was when Atzilut with all its branches...
"Atzilut" refers to everything in the world of Atzilut, while the "branches"
are Beriyah, Yetzirah and Asiyah with all their offspring. All of them are
woven in a single web and fall under one category, for they are one whole
bound together in a single bond, starting with Atzilut and ending with Asiyah.
This is the true root of everything in the lower realms, and it did not exist
until we reached this level. Man himself is a combination of Atzilut, Beriyah,
Yetzirah and Asiyah, corresponding to his Nefesh (Asiyah), Ruach (Yetzirah),
Neshamah (Beriyah) and Neshamah-of-the-Neshamah (Atzilut). All of the different
creatures come under the same order in the categories of Inanimate (corresponding
to Asiyah), Vegetable (Yetzirah), Animal (Beriyah) and Man (Atzilut).

...were
successively being made... This indicates that Eyn Sof did not want to
produce everything fully-formed from the very outset but rather, gradually,
stage by stage, starting with the minimum perfection and advancing steadily
towards ever-increasing perfection, until complete perfection will reign.
Accordingly, what exists at the end is what existed at the outset, except
that it then lacked the perfection that was intended to come afterwards.

Part 2:
...like the way in which a craftsman makes a vessel out of a piece of wood.
This means that Eyn Sof did not want to act in accordance with His own intrinsic,
limitless power, for He would then have produced complete perfection instantaneously.
Rather, He acted like a craftsman who is only able to work gradually, in stages.
He takes the lump of material in front of him and shapes it little by little.
It undergoes many different changes of form, from one to another, until finally
it ends up in its complete form.

At first
it is a shapeless mass, but afterwards, when its form is completed, its beauty
is then visible in its complete form. It starts off as a completely formless
substance, then afterwards it steadily takes on more and more of a distinct
form. Nevertheless, only when the form is complete is the beauty visible,
but one who sees the shapeless mass at the outset or in its initial forms
will merely see something faulty. However, in the end the true form will be
seen in all its beauty, and it will then be evident that all this was necessary
in order to come to that beauty.

This is exactly
the way in which Atzilut developed. The Supreme Will began to design it above
in the Supreme Mind (המחשבה העליונה,
hamachshavah ha-elyonah). It was while it was still beginning to take
shape, before its form was complete, that the lights of the Nekudim emerged,
corresponding to Atzilut before it was complete. Afterwards the design of
Atzilut was complete, and it emerged in all the beauty of its intrinsic form,
this being the state of Tikkun, "repair" or "rectification", as will be discussed
below.

Two things
must be understood here. The first is that the World of Nekudim came into
existence when the World of Atzilut first began to take shape, before it was
complete. Atzilut was then like a vessel whose form was as yet incomplete.
The second thing that must be understood is that the World of Nekudim is not
to be identified with the World of Atzilut itself. Rather, it is what emerged
while the form of Atzilut was still incomplete.

Thus the
Zohar states: "When the Craftsman pounded with the iron hammer, it
produced sparks on all sides, and the emerging sparks came out as flashes
that lit up and were then immediately extinguished, and these are called the
Primordial Worlds, and because of this they were destroyed and did not endure..."
(Idra
Zuta 292b).

To explain
this: The other levels prior to the World of Nekudim (e.g. the worlds of Vision,
Hearing and Smell of Adam Kadmon) can properly be called levels leading to
the world of Atzilut, because they continue to possess the same quality they
always had. When we examine this more closely we find it to be one quality
which steadily approaches the Likeness of Man that typifies Atzilut, except
that it is still a little distant from it because the development is gradual.
However, we cannot call the World of Nekudim a "level", because it is not
something that endured. It existed, and then it was negated, and now, in its
place, is the actual Atzilut. If so, Nekudim cannot be called a level
leading to Atzilut, because if it were, it should have remained in existence.
Otherwise we would be faced with a "leap", because one level would be missing,
while the supreme intention was to arrange all the lights in order, one under
the other, and if there is no need for this level now, it was also unnecessary
at the outset.

Rather, we
must say that the Nekudim are not to be understood as a level on the scale
leading to Atzilut. They are something different. The Nekudim correspond to
the "flashes" and "sparks" mentioned by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Zohar
II, 254b). As the
craftsman pounds the metal, the flashes and sparks are what separates from
the body of the metal under the impact of the blow that comes to shape and
fix the vessel. Following this metaphor, Atzilut is where the Supreme Mind
took the underlying mystery of the Likeness of Man in order to establish it
on its foundation, and the Supreme Mind then picked out what had to be removed
and discarded from there. And what was it that had to be removed? Evil.

In other
words, the purpose of those lights (i.e. of Nekudim) was to bring forth evil,
for the concealment had already reached the level from which it was possible
for evil to emerge. Now the intention here was not that the lights of the
Likeness of Man should produce evil. On the contrary, the whole intention
was that they should be purified and rectified, as will be discussed in due
course. It was then that what stood ready to produce evil became separated
from the essential body of the Likeness of Man, which stood ready to arrange
things in the the proper way. It was then that He brought forth and separated
this function (evil) from the Likeness of Man, and it came forth and was seen
in itself, these being the "sparks" that "flashed and were then extinguished".
Thus they performed their alloted task. For initially they emerged with a
flash, as if they too had control, and indeed it was from their rule that
evil emerged. Had they had no place or function at all in the governmental
order, they would not have amounted to anything. Rather, they flashed and
appeared and ruled... and because of the evil, they were destr. This is the
function of the Other Side: to cause destruction to this root. The Zohar
accordingly states (loc.
cit.) that "the
Mind scattered sparks on three hundred and twenty sides", these being the
entirety of all these kings (the shattered vessels).

We may sum
up by saying that Atzilut was steadily taking shape, and initially it took
on a certain form that had the purpose of producing evil. This is its incomplete,
imperfect form, inasmuch as it contains forces standing in an imperfect state
suited to the production of evil. This is the state seen afterwards in the
kings themselves: i.e. the first three (Keter, Chochmah and Binah) were insufficiently
prepared to provide the needs of the seven lower Sefirot, while the lower
Sefirot themselves were altogether unable to endure. Thus when this function
existed in the Likeness of Man, it was ready to produce evil. What did the
Supreme Mind do? He brought this function forth and removed it from the Likeness
of Man. It was a power contained within the Likeness to produce this function,
and He brought it forth and made it separate, by itself. (This is the "serpent",
the evil side, which stands outside of man. Initially, it was mixed up within
him in order to give it entry if man sins.) It is not the main essence but
a small power that is part of the overall Likeness, whereas the essence of
the Likeness is to bring things to a state of repair.

And this
small power divides in turn into many particulars, and the Supreme Mind then
brought forth all these particulars by themselves and gave them a certain
power, as will be discussed further below. However, if the Supreme Will had
so desired, He could have produced the Likeness ready fixed from the very
outset, without including evil at all. But He wanted it to contain this deficiency
and that it should depart from it in this way so that it should remain fixed
only at the end. This is the perfect form after the removal of all that limits
it. And what this perfect form is, you will see below, with the help of Heaven.